8.8.08

None of my friends showed up at the tar pits for the Boredoms show on 8.8.08. 88 drummers choreographed with subtlety not often seen. Not having friends to watch the show with really allowed me to focus on the shots and the drummers. I kept the spirit alive by posting a gallery of my favorite 88 shots. As beautiful of an event as i expected.

foster care forum

This is a gallery I shot for First 5, this was a forum organized by Karen Bass. The crowd was rather intense since it was a foster care forum. The community was asked to weigh in on some pressing and rather critical issues. I just took pictures.

amado

So here is my third attempt at a planned photo shoot. My friend Amado who is an avid cyclist (and chest-bumper) wanted some pictures of his cycling team. We decided to have some fun with a tricycle and the packs of bikers at the rose bowl. I had problems with the sun during this shoot (intense midday sun). I got the shot i was hoping for but the quality of the image definitely suffered. I was distracted a bit as well since i had a high school buddy in LA unexpectedly and while he graciously lent a hand with the shoot, we both had our eye on the beer afterwards the entire time.

work picnic/photoshoot

I have had the luxury of being the staff photographer for First5LA since I started here two years ago. This was the first big opportunity to get some quality shots with my Nikon. We decided to make the picnic a photo-shoot also, since we always need new images for our collateral and website. I brought my newly acquired 6 ft wide backdrop and hilarious tennis racquet for lighting. Everything said and done I got a ton of usable shots and had an easy time getting them.

couples therapy

This is from the same shoot as the last 2 galleries, this is all the couples shots we did. It was fun to see them interact in front of the camera. The both work really well for this stuff. It helps that they are sickeningly in love too. It was a challenge to use my Frankensteined ring light for two people (this shoot is still pre flash).

surprise its nate

So this is a gallery of the shots I did with erin as well, these are the solo shots and include the leaf blower magic. I like some of the single light source subdued stuff and some of the old timey card shark shots would be neat with better lighting. I must have used way to high of an ISO to capture these... so they are a little soft for my taste.

Erin

I got a seamless backdrop! I have no idea what possessed me to purchase a six foot wide roll of white paper. This is the first shoot i did on a drop... Nate and his lovely wife Erin came over and obliged me in doing some rather strange things with a leaf blower. Erin also tried out some crazy makeup since i knew I wanted close up portraits shot through the ring light I made. Here is the magic.

Jose Luis Orozco

This shoot was for a concert by Jose Luis Orozco, This guy has a star power with kids that rivals the sway that the "Slippery When Wet" tour had over teen girls. My favorite jam was "Apples and bananas". This auditorium had really crappy light and the quick movements by the hyper kids lead to my first waning for a flash. I can't believe I still only had one lens at this point in my dslr relationship. Here is the high ISO pictures.

hair blowing

Jolene and Michael have some damn cute critters! During my picture snapping at Roxx's birthday BBQ I grabbed their daughter and used her comfort in front of the camera to capture some awesome glamour shots. Stew helped me style and even turned my lil fan on her hair for some fashion fun. Its amazing how comfort in front of a camera can translate, I like the raw processing I used for these images too.

roxx's birthday

This seems like ages ago now. Roxx had a bbq and I was just snapping shots to memoralize really. It was fun to have a bunch of friends around who already knew I was in the throws of a camera addiction. I like when people get so bored of you taking pictures that things just get candid again. I took way to many sponge bob pinata pics and Stew made his famous buffalo wings.

heathers

Heather was my first attempt at a beauty series! I still had little control over my lighting, but these shots had decent balanced sunlight and turned out better than i hoped in some cases. I had not really done any shots like these in the past and it was fun to try and figure out what would look good. This was also one of the first times I was working with a stranger as well, so that actually helped me stay focused and concentrate purely on the image. The idea of capturing these non candid style  also liberated me from worry about creating a dynamic between the subject and I.

poor nate

I wanted to experiment with high speed stuff again with Nate. I had loved the results from the Nate spitting water experiments and thought It would be even more fun to spit water at him this time. My neighbor Cori happily obliged in spraying Nate with a hose while I captured the fun. The results were not as dramatic as the spitting sadly. I did get a few of Nate soaking wet with his face in the ringlight that were really odd.

diy

 This gallery is the first shots I tried with the ringlight I built. I had noticed a few pictures that had an amazing lack of shadow, and a funny highlight in the subjects eyes. A few google searches later I was in love with ringlights. These systems can be really pricey... most of them are strobe based anyhow and I had still not dipped my feet in the flash pool at this point. I basiclly went off all half cocked to home depot and bought 40 dollars worth of bulbs and worklamps. I had an old tennis raquet I attached the lights too which gave me "shoot through ringlight". I also had a crappy tripod that was previously re-purposed as a mic stand. So with my hillbilly light rig I sat down and took so pics of my face and a few of Stuart to test. I was pretty excited with the results and I threw this gallery up that evening.

fiesta

I cannot remember the reason for this lovely BBQ I was invited to at my friend Jason's house. His better half Brenda must have been celebrating a birthday since I met her parents there. Her dad is a grill master and her mom destroys all salsa's made before and after. Super low light shoot and I was a bit let down by the quality of images I captured in retrospect. Nice folks, great food, and good weather though...

photoshoot three

My friend Dana who is an excellent painter schemed this idea for a shoot with me. We bought a bunch of dollar store umbrellas and hung them off of a bridge over the LA river. I knew the image i wanted to see and could not quite capture it for this shoot. I still only had one lens for my camera (fixed focal 50mm) and I got quite a bit of excercise framing these shots. While I did not get the look i was going for, I did come to appreciate the quality of these images. The surreal aspect worked out well for the terrible lighting i was contending with too. I can't wait to re-shoot this idea. The LA river is a great spot for pictures.

july4th

I call my friend Jessica way to sporadically. When i do finally ring her after months of silence I can always depend on her to know of something fun to do on any given evening. She embodies my type of LA musician. When I did not have plans on July 4th she obliged my request to tag along and watch her spin outdoors. Neil Hamburger, Dr Demento, and Dave Gleason were there too of course. I got lots of practice taking pics of strangers on this excursion.

fun»

nate and his water cannon

Nate has been gracious enough to adapt to creative prowess since i have known him. He is also been an amazing person to collaborate with for music. I am super lucky someone as disinterested in self image as he is, has allowed me to to experiment with him as a subject. I probably have more pictures of Nate than anyone else. In this shoot he obliged my desire to see water droplets reflecting the midday sun. The shots are just Nate spitting water or being sprayed with a hose.  My favorite shot from the day is the one featured above. It might be one of my favorite pictures from 2008. I played alot with the processing to get this night time feel and almost star like quality of the spray in this shot. This ability to change a shots feel so dramatically really inspired my raw file editing creativity.

tanya is 30

This here gallery is my friend Tanya's 30th birthday party. I was still getting use to photographing strangers... There are a few shoots in here i still really like though. Tanya's husband Todd made a fantastic silohuette when he was hanging the pinata, there were funny japanese masks, and white people dancing. The first pic in the gallery is my friend david in a kiddie pool, he didn't know i was snapping this and the pic turned out quite serene.

vegas, for the bathroom

Las Vegas is Everyman's cut-rate Babylon. Not far away there is, or was, a roadside lunch counter and over it a sign proclaiming in three words that a Roman emperor's orgy is now a democratic institution. "Topless Pizza Lunch." ~Alistair Cooke

My second trip to Vegas was not for the ordinary reasons, Nate and i decided the best way to work recording back into our busy lives was to take a trip dedicated to making music. I remembered amazing acoustics in a bathroom at the resort i stayed in on my first trip. The album we were working on was a bit more honest and had lyrics about Nate's favorite subject, People sucking. I figured what better place to go for inspiration than sunny Las Vegas. In retrospect I realize Nate really doesn't need help harnessing what bugs him about modern lifestyle. It was blazing hot and the bathroom did indeed have great acoustics, It was a perfect trip.

Mirror Dancing

wet hair etc.

I was really into hair movement when I started shooting. I am still really into hair flinging despite its cliched history. My friend Laura who lived close by, and now lives even closer (roomies) was gracious enough to stop by for a quick night shoot. I used a shoplight in the middle of the street which created a really neat atmosphere. My favorite shots were the soft ones in low light, they had an ridiculously short depth of field.

now serving fries

My second shoot also afforded unfavorable conditions for my concept. I had dreamed of a real bright contrasty image of Michael serving fries on the court. The morning was extremely overcast and i was still horrified of un-natural lighting. In retrospect this shoot could have been exactly the way i saw it with the right lighting set-up. I did have a great time and the gorilla style shooting was rather invigorating. Michael is a great model and his expressions and build made him look so legit in many of the pics. While Michael has still never played a real game of tennis, he certainly knows he can look the part.




fries

stewing

So not only does Stew dream of photography all day, take great pictures, work as an assistant to photo luminaries such as "Jill Greenberg", but he is damn photogenic. I think alot of people conquer the idea of being "not great on camera" by staying on the shooting side of it. We are probably two weeks into my purchase of the d300 by now. Here is Stew's BBQ. My favorite part of his email invite was: "oh and bring animals, pets and dogs, and swim wear, i dont have a pool though"

for bonus fun Clay did the "Clay2000" dance

Mischelle got in a recycling bin

And Andrew just respirated

feria del libro

Its strange to go back and see all my mistakes... I remember taking a pic of the stilt walking pirate in this gallery, he said "I spy a student photographer". I remember being equally entertained by pirate affectations and annoyed by the correct accusation.

feria del libro

I also remember the popo letting me into the bridge connecting city hall. It was fun to abuse the large camera body and lens to get behind the scenes.

random gif I found

yes, pet photography

When Roxx my neighbor/friend/mom leaves town I get to pet sit... This trip happened to coincide with my new camera obsession. The cats really didn't mind my incessant snapping either. There are some pics shot with a crappy digital camera from when they were tiny too. I was really just giving Roxx pics to help her withdrawls while learning what all the pretty buttons and knobs on my Nikon actually did.

gallery1

gallery2

work camera ahoy

I have a canon rebel at my work... Its a baseline body with a kit lens. Needless to say I was bringing my camera to work everyday for quite some time. There is a day care on the first floor of our building so they asked if i could help snap some pics for a graduation, i obliged and dealt with fluorescents as best as i knew how. I was shooting here and there with the Canon at work on days i need to capture something and forgot my camera... until last week... My work splurged and got me the d300s for work! I needed some high def video for an upcoming Time Warner commercial and the new 300s was the best option. I have so little to complain about in regards to work now its almost distressing unto itself.

may 2008 kickoff

I coordinated buying the camera with a trip i was taking to Florida. My brother who enjoyed the same darkroom growing up now takes photos for a living. He uses two d300's for almost everything he shoots so the choice was easy for me. The coolest part of my visit was being able to use his underwater housing with our cameras. The housing as it turns out costs more than the camera but the results make me want to rationalize one. I also had an idea for a photo shoot that we intertwined with the normal photo opps. My dad was very helpful in finding me an entire suit for the thrifty cost of 6 bucks. The condo association was miffed to say the least when they saw our unconventional use of their pool.

low light goodness

My neighbor Stew invited me to tag along for a night of debauchery my first week with the Nikon. I had no idea how DSLRS sensors were achieving great low light results. I took most of these pictures in terrible mixed apartment lighting. The rapid fire 6 fps of the d300 made stews dancing look even more absurd. I also met Andrew who can make some amazing lurker faces.

welcome to dslrs...

I am backtracking here... I want to have a spot to share photo shoots as they happen. I thought it would be fun to start at the beginning... I grew up in a dark room with a Pentax k1000. My High School art teacher liked me so i spent way too much time making pinhole cameras and ruining my hands in dektol and acidbath. For the record I really miss those noxious smells. OK so digital... I was resistant for so long! When I realized that RAW format had the burning and dodging I desperately missed the DSLR became an unstoppable urge. Long story short I bought a Nikon d300 and started shooting day one.